Backfill: High-Rise Bamboo

T is a rigid steel structure that
includes convenient working platforms
protected by kickboards and guardrails.
But in Hong Kong, most of the scaffolding
used for everything from replacing
windows and repairing neon signs to
constructing 70-story skyscrapers is
pieced together on the job site from
long, flexible bamboo poles — botanically
a type of grass (see photos below).
In high-rise scaffolding, a bottom tier
of 4- to 8-inch poles of Chinese fir bears
the heaviest compressive loads. Two
distinct kinds of bamboo are used
above the wooden base posts: a main
grid of thick, heavy maao-chuk bamboo
poles placed on 10-foot centers, and
infill of lighter ko-chuk bamboo poles,
spaced about 21/2 feet apart. Fir diagonal
braces are